电子游戏规则可版权性与保护界限分析

Analysis of the Copyrightability and Protection Boundaries of Video Game Rules

当下电子游戏产业高速发展并展现多元潜能,然而繁荣的背后却是抄袭成风、乱象不止,对电子游戏规则版权保护的态度到了决策关头。情理上,无论是电子游戏规则本身还是其作为核心参与的作品整体表达的过程,都能够特色地编织游戏意义,这正是作品艺术与商业价值的核心体现之一;思想表达二分法对规则可版权性不吝质疑,然而法学学理与符号学理论支持规则并不必然归于思想,存在部分规则应受保护;在实践中可以将游戏规则分为框架规则、基础规则、一般规则和规约性规则,前二者因落入抽象领域而不受保护,一般规则应根据个案综合考量,规约性规则可以予以版权保护以激励广泛游戏艺术创新。

The electronic game industry is currently experiencing rapid development and demonstrating diverse potentials across various domains,yet behind this prosperity is rampant plagiarism,and the attitude towards the copyright protection of electronic game rules is critical for policy making.From the rational perspective,the game rule itself and its role as expressive elements in the overall expression of games can distinctively express the meaning of games,which are essential artistic and commercial value of games.Idea and Expression Dichotomy raises doubts about the copyrightability of game rules,yet legal and semiotic theory support that rules are not necessarily ideas,and some rules should be copyrightable.In practice,game rules can be divided into framework rules,basic rules,general rules,and symbol rules according to the principle of semiotic arbitrariness and trichotomy approach,of which the first two belong to abstract domains and are not copyrightable,general rules should be determined on a case-by-case basis,while symbol rules are difficult to monopolize due to infinite and initiative choices,and copyrightable to encourage a wide range of game art innovation.